


Steel Hands & Silver Tongue

by doop_doop



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Massage, Meet-Cute, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21746707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doop_doop/pseuds/doop_doop
Summary: Felix gets a massage - and the massage therapist is humming.It should be annoying, but, for some reason, it's not. It's... cute.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 14
Kudos: 65
Collections: FE3H Holiday Gift Exchange





	Steel Hands & Silver Tongue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [villagepsychic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/villagepsychic/gifts).



Felix stared down at the envelope Sylvain was holding out to him. “I don’t want it.”

“What?” Sylvain’s shock was too over-the-top to be realistic; he  _ had  _ to have seen this coming. “Felix, you  _ wound _ me. I went out and got you a nice present for your birthday and this is how-”

“A nice present?” Felix cut in. “Yeah, right.”

“In case you didn’t guess, it’s a gift card,” Sylvain said, waving the envelope. “What’s not to like about a gift card?”

“It depends on where the gift card is for, and you know it. Am I going to be insulted when I open that envelope?”

Growing positively theatrical, Sylvain put a hand flat on his chest. “Me? Insult you, my best friend?” 

“Cut it out with the act,” Felix said. “You got Dimitri a gift card to a store that only sells soap. Your shitty gift cards are always insults. I don’t want it.”

“But,  _ Felix! _ You’ll  _ like  _ it!”

“It’s either something you think is funny, or something you got me just to use yourself when I inevitably reject it.”

“Well…” Sylvain cocked his head to the side, apparently thinking. “Honestly? I’d love this as a gift, so if you did refuse, I  _ would  _ use it myself. But I did really pick it out for you, honest!” 

“I’ll open it when I get home,” Felix said, snatching it out of Sylvain’s hand and trying to ignore the smug grin that appeared when he did so. 

“Enjoy!” Sylvain called out after him. Felix had already begun walking away, but he rolled his eyes anyways, not entirely convinced he’d made the right choice.

\---

The card was something generic, but inside Sylvain had written  _ Hope this will help you relax!  _ Next to the words, he’d drawn a goddamn  _ winking face.  _

It was a gift card for a massage. It was for an actual legitimate-looking place, a chain; Felix was glad it wasn’t some sketchy hole-in-the-wall joint, because then he for sure would have known it was all a joke. If that had been the case, he would have given the gift card back - or, more likely, cut it up and tossed it out. But, Felix knew, Sylvain had spent real money on this - and the more he thought about it, the more inclined he was to make good on the offer.

Felix did often complain about his back and neck aching, especially after long training sessions. Apparently Sylvain had actually been listening. Felix tucked the gift card into his wallet and filed the gift into the category of “Better than expected” - particular considering who’d given it.

\---

Felix waited a few weeks to go, until he’d had a particularly grueling session and felt just about ready to die from the ache in his shoulders and arms. Then he made an appointment for the very next day - the morning, in the hope that it would fix everything instantly and he’d be able to resume training that evening. He was doubtful, but, really, who knew? 

As some short redhead was leading him into a private room, Felix felt himself growing more and more tense. He knew it was silly, but he’d never had anyone touch him like this before, and was only now realizing how strange it would feel to have a stranger’s hands on his bare skin. By the time the girl closed the door behind them, Felix was frowning deeply, and the ache in his shoulders was even worse than before. 

“I’m Annette!” the girl said, extending her hand. 

Felix shook it, then realized she was actually waiting for him to introduce himself. “Felix,” he muttered. “What do I do? I’ve never had one of these before.” 

“Oh, that’s okay! Just take off your shirt and lie facedown here.” She gestured towards a strange bed with a hole in it that Felix realized was for his face. “I’ll just be a moment!” 

“By the way,” Felix said, as he stripped and got situated, “don’t worry about being too rough with me. I probably need it.”

“Got a lot of knots, huh?” 

“Yeah,” Felix said, although he wasn’t sure what that meant. “There’s no need to be gentle on me.” 

“Thanks for the heads up!”

Her hands, when at last she touched him, were warm and firm; her thumbs felt like steel as she dug them into his back. It took Felix by surprise so much that he let out a groan.

“You  _ did _ tell me not to go easy on you, didn’t you?” Annette said. Felix heard the smile in her voice - did she find this funny, or did she always smile? “Am I being too rough?”

“No,” Felix said. It hurt, but, oddly, it was a  _ good  _ pain. It was as if he could already feel the tension leaving him. 

“Well, let me know if you change your mind,” Annette said. 

After that, she was silent for a long time. It was as if she could see the places on Felix’s back that were aching, as if they drew her hands to them like magnets. Felix lay there, feeling like a lump of dough being kneaded. He was unsure whether he enjoyed the feeling, but he didn’t want to move, regardless.

Then, after maybe ten minutes had passed in silence, Annette began to hum.

_ What in the world? _ Felix thought.  _ Who wants to listen to someone humming when they’re giving you a massage? Don’t people come here to relax, not to be annoyed? _

In theory, it pissed him off. In reality…

In reality, it was pleasant, even somehow cute. Felix didn’t recognize the song, and although he didn’t know much about music, something made him think the melody was one the girl had composed herself. It had a strange, wandering feeling, like she was still working on it; the same sequence would sometimes repeat several times, with slight variations on each repetition. Annette didn’t have a strong voice, but she wasn’t humming to be  _ heard, _ anyways - if they weren’t so close, Felix wouldn’t have heard her song at all. Clearly, she was humming for herself.

Once, Felix coughed, and Annette stopped humming abruptly as if startled - as if she’d somehow forgotten he was there, which was  _ ridiculous, _ considering her hands were on him the entire time. After that, Felix held very still, as if coaxing a wild animal to come out of hiding; eventually the hum came back, at first quiet, but growing in volume as the minutes passed.

The odd combination of feelings - Annette’s hands on his back, the strange melody he couldn’t quite follow - seemed to put Felix into a trance. Often he had issues dealing with thoughts that wouldn’t leave his head, problems that bothered him more persistently the more he tried to keep them out - but now his mind was empty, completely devoid of everything but Annette’s song and the ever-present feeling of her hands on his skin. Felix wondered if this was what being hypnotized felt like.

Then, suddenly, without warning, Annette’s hands were no longer on him, and Felix heard her calling his name. He lifted his head and looked up, blearily. “Hmm?”

“Sorry to kick you out, but the time’s up!” 

“But the massage was supposed to be an hour…” He caught sight of the clock: it  _ had  _ been an hour, and his time really  _ was  _ up. How in the world…?

“You fell asleep,” Annette said. “Don’t worry, that’s perfectly normal!” 

“I fell asleep?!”

“A lot of people fall asleep during massages - you might be surprised. You looked so peaceful, I feel bad waking you up - I wish I could let you keep sleeping, but I’ve got to get ready for someone else.” 

Felix blinked and pushed himself into a sitting position. He felt… good, but also tired down to his bones, as if lying there doing nothing had somehow exhausted him. “Thank you.” 

Felix didn’t know what he was thanking her for - this was her job, wasn’t it? But she smiled more widely and shot him a thumbs up. “No problem!”

Felix frowned and looked away. Whether her smile was fake or not, it  _ felt _ real, and it threatened to be infectious. 

He didn’t know if he should tip, or how much to tip - he didn’t even know how much the gift card had cost Sylvain, since it was for an hour-long massage instead of a specific amount. He lingered at the front desk, thinking, debating, wondering if he should bother looking up the etiquette for this sort of thing. 

Maybe he  _ had  _ been hypnotized - maybe that was what caused him to take a stupidly large amount of cash out of his wallet and slide it onto the front desk. “This is for Annette.”

“Thank you, sir,” the receptionist said. “I’ll make sure she gets this. I’m glad you enjoyed your massage!”

Felix turned and left as quickly as he could. That night, he slept better than he had in years.

\---

He went back the next weekend, and the next, and the next. He didn’t  _ need  _ the massages; his back didn’t even ache all that much. But in the days after that first massage, Felix found himself thinking about it almost constantly. During his hour with Annette, his head had truly been empty, in the best way possible. He had been entirely without worries, and he wanted to experience that feeling again.

And it  _ had  _ to be Annette, he decided. She was a stranger to him, and he to her, but there was something about her humming that made him feel at ease. Every time he went, Felix did his best not to fall asleep; and every time he fell asleep anyways, waking up groggy and disoriented but with absolutely no regrets. It did not take much time for this ritual to become his favorite part of the week.

His fourth massage, she sang. They were  _ definitely _ songs she’d made up herself, Felix decided; the lyrics were nonsensical, goofy, the sort of thing one might compose mindlessly while doing something else.  _ She’s like a kindergarten teacher,  _ Felix thought,  _ and she’s treating me like a child - _ but even as he thought it, he knew it wasn’t true. The songs were not meant for him. 

The fifth massage, however, Annette was silent. Felix waited and waited, enjoying the massage itself but feeling like something was missing. He kept straining to listen, wondering if maybe she was humming more softly this time; but, the entire time, he didn’t make out a single note.

“You didn’t fall asleep!” she said, once the hour was over. “I’m surprised.”

“You didn’t sing.”

Annette’s face turned bright red. “Oh my gosh,” she said, speaking more quickly than Felix had heard her speak, “I’m really sorry about that. I sometimes don’t even realize I’m humming or singing - that sounds really stupid, I know, but I swear it’s true. I got a complaint about my singing this week, so I’m trying my hardest not to do it anymore.”

Felix stared at her for a long time, surprised. Annette seemed to get more uncomfortable under his gaze - she bit her lip, and her hands twisted around each other. “Um, that wasn’t you, was it?” she said at last. “Did you file that complaint? I mean-”

“No!” Felix said, his voice coming out too loud in the enclosed space. “No, of  _ course  _ that wasn’t me.” 

“Well, still,” Annette said, sounding relieved. “I’ll be careful not to do it anymore. I’m glad it didn’t make you stop coming.”

“You’ve got it wrong,” Felix said. He wasn’t good at expressing himself, but he felt he had to try. He had absolutely nothing to lose. “I… like your singing.” 

“You like it?”

Felix nodded. “Your singing, your humming… they’re the best part of the massage for me.”

“Not the actual massage?!”

“I like both,” Felix said quickly. “But your music has an effect on me.”

“It puts you to sleep?”

“Yes. It relaxes me.” 

“I’m really glad you don’t hate it,” Annette said. Her face was still red, but she was smiling a bit now, too. 

That smile made Felix braver. “So, you can stop for your other customers,” he said, “but please don’t stop humming for me.”

“You’re not teasing me, are you?”

“Not at all.” 

Annette gazed at him for a long moment, and now  _ he _ was the one feeling nervous; in all the hours they’d spent together, he’d felt and heard her much more than he’d seen her. Looking into her eyes was almost shocking, but Felix steeled himself and didn’t look away.

“Then,” she said at last, “would you want to go to karaoke sometime?”

“Karaoke?” he echoed stupidly. 

“To listen to me sing.”

“Yes.” Felix didn’t hesitate for a second. He would have said anything to hear her voice again. Then a thought occurred to him. “Would I have to sing, too?”

“You don’t  _ have _ to,” she said. “But it would only be fair, wouldn’t it?” 

“I… suppose so.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Fine. I’ll sing too. Will anyone else be there?” 

“No,” she said. “Just us.” She was oddly bashful about it, which seemed strange to Felix, considering how bold she’d been only a moment ago.  _ What a strange girl, _ he thought fondly. “I don’t like singing in front of groups,” she added. “I get nervous.” 

“Good,” Felix said. “I’d prefer doing that with you alone, anyways.” 

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, Felix’s heart pounding, until Annette broke the silence. “Maybe, um, Friday?” 

Felix nodded. His mind was too blank right now to remember if he had other plans for that day, but if he did, he could cancel them. “Let me give you my number.” 

They exchanged contact information, and left shortly after. When he walked out, Felix didn’t feel quite as groggy as he normally did after his massages, and not quite as lazily relaxed - but he could not stop himself from smiling. He was practically humming with joy, himself.

Friday was five days away, and Felix couldn’t wait.


End file.
